Controlling wind turbine

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a wind turbine. The method includes: dividing a plurality of wind turbines into at least one group based on a similarity in status information of the plurality of wind turbines; in response to having detected a fault in a first wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines, searching a group to which the first wind turbine belongs for a second wind turbine matching status information of the first wind turbine; and controlling the first wind turbine based on parameters from the second wind turbine.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/981,760, filed May 16, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/187,419, filed Feb. 24, 2014, issued onJun. 5, 2018 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,989,035, and entitled “Controlling WindTurbine,” which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No.201310064204.7, filed Feb. 28, 2013, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

Various embodiments of the present invention relate to equipmentcontrol, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus forcontrolling a wind turbine.

2. Description of Related Art

As wind energy is clean, pollution-free and renewable, wind power playsan increasingly important role in the worldwide construction of newenergy. Wind turbines are the core equipment of wind power; windturbines are usually located in windy plains or coastal areas with badweather conditions, so they are vulnerable to adverse factors such asthe severe cold, sandstorms and moisture and are likely to crash duringdaily operation.

A wind turbine is a kind of large equipment for transforming wind energyinto electric energy and typically includes a large number of componentssuch as a controller, a sensor, a yaw system, a pitch system, agenerator and a mechanical drive, wherein the controller and the sensorare most fault-prone. In an existing wind farm, due to the difference ofthe geographical location of each wind turbine and factors likesurrounding topography, the controller of each wind turbine has toadjust actions (e.g., invoking a mechanical drive device to orient thewind turbine's head towards current wind direction, etc.) of eachcomponent in the wind turbine according to specific parameters of itslocation such as wind force, wind direction and current yaw angle of thewind turbine.

However, when the controller and/or sensor of a specific wind turbine ina wind farm has faults or crashes, in order to prevent the wind turbinefrom further damage, the faulted wind turbine must be shut downtemporarily and wait to be maintained by technicians on the site. Theshutdown of the wind turbine reduces the energy production and furtherproduces fluctuations of power outputted to the backbone grid, and onthe other hand, causes wear on the wind turbine itself and increases theworkload of technicians. As a wind farm usually includes hundreds ofwind turbines or more, it becomes a research focus as to how to removethe impact of faults on wind turbines immediately upon the occurrencethereof and enable wind turbines to continue work, according to theexisting technical solution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for controlling a wind turbine,including: dividing a plurality of wind turbines into at least one groupbased on a similarity in status information of the plurality of windturbines; in response to having detected a fault in a first wind turbineof the plurality of wind turbines, searching a group to which the firstwind turbine belongs for a second wind turbine matching statusinformation of the first wind turbine; and controlling the first windturbine based on parameters from the second wind turbine.

Another aspect of the present invention provides an apparatus forcontrolling a wind turbine, including: a dividing module configured todivide a plurality of wind turbines into at least one group based on asimilarity in status information of the plurality of wind turbines; asearch module configured to, in response to having detected a fault in afirst wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines, search a group towhich the first wind turbine belongs for a second wind turbine matchingstatus information of the first wind turbine; and a control moduleconfigured to control the first wind turbine based on parameters fromthe second wind turbine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description below in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, the features, advantages and other aspects of theembodiments of the present invention will become more apparent. Severalembodiments of the present invention are illustrated here in anexemplary rather than restrictive manner.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an exemplarycomputer system which is applicable to implement the embodiments of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an architecture diagram of variouscomponents in a wind turbine according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an architecture diagram of a system forcontrolling a wind turbine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a flowchart of a method for controllinga wind turbine according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 5A and 5B schematically illustrate schematic views of the processfor controlling the orientation of a wind turbine head according to theembodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a flowchart of a method for dividingwind turbines into groups according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus forcontrolling a wind turbine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Therefore, it is desired to develop a technical solution capable ofautomatically controlling the operation of a wind turbine when the windturbine has faults or crashes, and it is desired the technical solutioncan ensure the normal operation of the wind turbine without manualintervention of technicians. In other words, it is desired the technicalsolution can ensure the faulted wind turbine does not have to be shutdown and can operate securely and normally during the period from thewind turbine crashing to technicians manually repairing/replacing afaulted component in the wind turbine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod for controlling a wind turbine, including: dividing a pluralityof wind turbines into at least one group based on the similarity instatus information of the plurality of wind turbines; in response tohaving detected a fault in a first wind turbine of the plurality of windturbines, searching a group to which the first wind turbine belongs fora second wind turbine matching status information of the first windturbine; and controlling the first wind turbine based on parameters fromthe second wind turbine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the controlling thefirst wind turbine based on parameters from the second wind turbineincludes: in response to a fault having occurred in a sensor of thefirst wind turbine, using measured values from a sensor of the secondwind turbine as measured values of the sensor of the first wind turbine,for controlling the first wind turbine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the controlling thefirst wind turbine based on parameters from the second wind turbinefurther includes: in response to a fault having occurred in a controllerof the first wind turbine, adjusting the first wind turbine's headorientation and/or blade angle by a controller of the second windturbine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided anapparatus for controlling a wind turbine. The apparatus includes: adividing module configured to divide a plurality of wind turbines intoat least one group based on the similarity in status information of theplurality of wind turbines; a search module configured to, in responseto having detected a fault in a first wind turbine of the plurality ofwind turbines, search a group to which the first wind turbine belongsfor a second wind turbine matching status information of the first windturbine; and a control module configured to control the first windturbine based on parameters from the second wind turbine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the control moduleincludes: a first control module configured to, in response to a faulthaving occurred in a sensor of the first wind turbine, use measuredvalues from a sensor of the second wind turbine as measured values ofthe sensor of the first wind turbine, for controlling the first windturbine.

According to one aspect of the present invention, the control modulefurther includes: a second control module configured to, in response toa fault having occurred in a controller of the first wind turbine,adjust the first wind turbine's head orientation and/or blade angle by acontroller of the second wind turbine.

By means of the method and apparatus described by the variousembodiments of the present invention, the faulted or crashed windturbine can be controlled automatically. Therefore, the faulted windturbine can continue to operate in security; on the other hand,technicians can reasonably arrange and schedule their work. In addition,the various embodiments of the present invention can further reduce orprevent the loss of energy production and the fluctuation of poweroutputted to the backbone grid, which might be caused if the faultedwind turbine shuts down.

Some preferable embodiments will be described in more detail withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which the preferableembodiments of the present invention have been illustrated. The presentinvention can be implemented in various manners, and thus should not beconstrued to be limited to the embodiments disclosed herein. On thecontrary, those embodiments are provided for the thorough and completeunderstanding of the present invention, and completely conveying thescope of the present invention to those skilled in the art.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention can take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, in some embodiments, aspects of the present invention cantake the form of a computer program product embodied in one or morecomputer readable medium(s) having computer readable program codeembodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) can beutilized. The computer readable medium can be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium can be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium can be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium can include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal cantake any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, anelectro-magnetic signal, optical signal, or any suitable combinationthereof. A computer readable signal medium can be any computer readablemedium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that cancommunicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or inconnection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium can be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention can be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code can execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remotecomputer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latterscenario, the remote computer can be connected to the user's computerthrough any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or awide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an externalcomputer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet ServiceProvider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions canbe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implements the function/act specified in the flowchart and/orblock diagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable data processing apparatus or other devices to produce acomputer implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

Referring now to FIG. 1, in which an exemplary computer system/server 12which is applicable to implement the embodiments of the presentinvention is illustrated. Computer system/server 12 is only illustrativeand is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of embodiments of the invention described herein.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, computer system/server 12 is illustrated inthe form of a general-purpose computing device. The components ofcomputer system/server 12 can include, but are not limited to, one ormore processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28, and a bus 18that couples various system components including system memory 28 toprocessor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media can be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 can further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not illustrated in FIG. 1 and typically called a “hard drive”).Although not illustrated in FIG. 1, a magnetic disk drive for readingfrom and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a“floppy disk”), and an optical disk drive for reading from or writing toa removable, non-volatile optical disk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM orother optical media can be provided. In such instances, each can beconnected to bus 18 by one or more data media interfaces. As will befurther depicted and described below, memory 28 can include at least oneprogram product having a set (e.g., at least one) of program modulesthat are configured to carry out the functions of embodiments of theinvention.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,can be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, can include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 can also communicate with one or more externaldevices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24, etc.;one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not illustrated, otherhardware and/or software components could be used in conjunction withcomputer system/server 12. Examples, include, but are not limited to:microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external diskdrive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storagesystems, etc.

Further note FIG. 1 just schematically illustrates an example of anexemplary computer system which is applicable to implement theembodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art shouldunderstand the computer system can be implemented by an existingcomputer device in a current wind turbine or implemented by introducingan additional computer device, and the present invention can beimplemented by an existing computer device in a wind turbine inconjunction with a newly added additional device.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an architecture diagram 200 of variouscomponents in a wind turbine according to one solution. As illustratedin FIG. 2, the wind turbine generally includes: a sensor 210 formeasuring various status information (e.g., wind speed information andwind direction information of the location, as well as current yawinformation of the wind turbine, etc.) of the wind turbine; a controller220 for controlling operations of various components in the wind turbinebased on various measured values from the sensor 210; a drive device 230for driving the movement of various parts in the wind turbine (e.g.,driving the wind turbine's head to change the head's orientation,driving the pitch system to change the blade angle, etc.); and otherdevice 240 such as a generator, cabin, etc. Sensor 210 illustrated inFIG. 2 can be, for example, an aerovane for measuring wind direction andwind speed and a yaw sensor for measuring current yaw angle of the windturbine.

Note due to the difference of the location of each wind turbine andother factors like surrounding topography, wind force and winddirection, a sensor and a controller should be configured for each windturbine separately. In this solution, when the sensor or controller of aspecific wind turbine has faults or crashes, as the status informationof each wind turbine is different, control parameters from other windturbine cannot be directly applied to the faulted wind turbine. Even iftwo wind turbines are geographically close to each other, their controlparameters might differ considerably. If parameters from a wind turbineoperating normally are applied to a faulted wind turbinestraightforwardly, wind power resources cannot be put to effective use,and at worst adverse consequences might arise, such as damage to windturbines and harm to the electric field security.

In view of the foregoing drawbacks, the various embodiments of thepresent invention propose a technical solution for using parameters froma normal wind turbine, which is similar to the status of a faulted windturbine, to control the faulted wind turbine by analyzing the similarityin wind turbine status. FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an architecturediagram 300 of a system for controlling a wind turbine according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a schematic view of a plurality of windturbines (e.g., a wind turbine A 300A, . . . , a wind turbine N 300N) ina wind farm, wherein based on the similarity in status information ofthe plurality of wind turbines, the plurality of wind turbines can bedivided into at least one group (e.g., a group 1 360, . . . , a group M370), each group including one or more wind turbines. For example, group1 360 can include wind turbine A 300A, . . . , wind turbine N 300N. Inaddition, a group controller 380 can be disposed in the wind farm, forgrouping the plurality of wind turbines based on the similarity instatus information of the wind turbines and managing each group and eachwind turbine. Each wind turbine can have components similar to thoseillustrated with reference to FIG. 2 above; for example, wind turbine A300A can include a sensor 310A, a controller 320A, a drive device 330Aand other device 340A. In addition, the wind turbine A 300A can furtherinclude a wind turbine manager 350A for implementing wired/wireless datacommunication between group manager 380A and the plurality of windturbines and controlling a wind turbine in response to data from groupmanager 380, etc. Note in the context of the present invention, windturbine manager 350A can operate in a mode different to an existing windturbine system, e.g., can implement communication between a plurality ofdevices based on wireless ad hoc network technology.

Like wind turbine A 300A, wind turbine N 300N can also include similarcomponents. In addition, although only details of group 1 360 areillustrated in FIG. 3, those skilled in the art can understand othergroup (e.g., group M 370) can also include one or more wind turbines.

Based on the architecture as illustrated in FIG. 3, when a wind turbine(e.g., wind turbine A 300A in group 1 360) in a group has faults orcrashes, parameters from another wind turbine (e.g., wind turbine N 300Nin group 1 360) in this group can be used for controlling the operationof wind turbine A 300A. As status information of wind turbines in agroup is similar, operating a faulted wind turbine with parameters froma normal wind turbine in the same group will not lead to such risks asparameter mismatch, or shut down the faulted wind turbine and wait forit to be maintained by technicians. Note in the embodiments of thepresent invention, parameters from a normal wind turbine can be useddirectly to control a faulted wind turbine, or based on the similaritybetween the faulted wind turbine and an existing wind turbine,parameters from a normal wind turbine can be processed so as to controlthe faulted wind turbine by using processed parameters that are moresuitable to conditions of the faulted wind turbine.

Specifically, the present invention provides a method for controlling awind turbine, including: dividing a plurality of wind turbines into atleast one group based on a similarity in status information of theplurality of wind turbines; in response to having detected a fault in afirst wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines, searching a groupto which the first wind turbine belongs for a second wind turbinematching status information of the first wind turbine; and controllingthe first wind turbine based on parameters from the second wind turbine.

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a flowchart of a method for controllinga wind turbine according to one embodiment of the present invention. Asillustrated in FIG. 4, first of all, in step S402 a plurality of windturbines are divided into at least one group based on the similarity instatus information of the plurality of wind turbines. Those skilled inthe art should note since wind direction information is one of the mostsignificant factors in controlling the operation of a wind turbine, thesimilarity in wind direction information at various wind turbines can betaken into consideration first. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, if wind direction is represented with an interval [0°, 360°),then the plurality of wind turbines can be divided into a plurality ofgroups every specific angle (e.g., 3°); for example, wind turbines withwind direction of [0°-3°) are grouped into a first group, and windturbines with wind direction of [3°-6°) are grouped into a second group.Note in this embodiment the angle interval is merely illustrative, andthose skilled in the art can further set the interval to a larger orsmaller value.

In one embodiment of the present invention, to consider impacts ofvarious factors like topography and meteorology on wind turbines, one ormore of the following factors can be taken into consideration: locationinformation, wind speed information, wind direction information, and yawinformation. Specifically, those skilled in the art can apply differentweights to different factors and further calculate the similarity instatus information of wind turbines, which will be described in detailbelow.

In step S404, in response to having detected a fault in a first windturbine of the plurality of wind turbines, a group to which the firstwind turbine belongs is searched for a second wind turbine matchingstatus information of the first wind turbine. Note when wind turbinesare in normal operating state, each wind turbine can control itsoperation by its controller based on measured values collected by itssensor. However, when a fault occurs in a wind turbine (e.g., a sensorfault and/or a controller fault), a normal wind turbine that is mostsimilar to the faulted wind turbine status is looked for in a group towhich the faulted wind turbine belongs, and subsequently the faultedwind turbine is controlled based on parameters from the normal windturbine.

Those skilled in the art can understand status information of each windturbine in a group to which the faulted wind turbine belongs is similarin some degree to status information of the faulted wind turbine. Tocontrol the similarity degree between various wind turbines, asimilarity threshold may be defined while grouping. In case of a highthreshold, there perhaps exists some difference in status information ofvarious wind turbines in a group; in case of a low threshold, it isconsidered such difference is quite slight and even can be ignored.

Therefore, “matching” can be construed as having the highest similarity,or where a threshold is well defined during grouping, it can beconsidered every two wind turbines in a group are matching.Alternatively, to simplify calculation, further it can be considered twowind turbines that are most geographically adjacent are “matching,” orit can be considered two wind turbines that are closest in winddirection are “matching,” or each factor in status information may beconsidered to look for the most matching wind turbine.

In step S406, the first wind turbine is controlled based on parametersfrom the second wind turbine. Those skilled in the art should understandwind turbines are complicated, precision, large equipment capable oftransforming wind energy into electric energy, so controlling a windturbine can involve control of the wind turbine's various componentslike a hydraulic system, bearings and a gearbox, in order to driveoperations such as adjusting the wind turbine's head orientation and/orblade angle. In the context of the present invention, no detaileddescription is presented regarding how to drive these mechanical and/orelectronic devices, and those skilled in the art can design bythemselves a specific implementation based on the prior art, so long asoperations of various components in the wind turbine can be controlled.

Note an important basis for ensuring normal operation of a wind turbineis to correctly arrange the wind turbine's head orientation and bladeangle. Therefore, in the embodiments of the present invention, adjustinga wind turbine's head orientation and blade angle is taken as a specificexample of controlling the wind turbine. Those skilled in the art canimplement the control of other components in the wind turbine based onthe principles illustrated in the context of the present invention.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the sensor including atleast one of an aerovane and a yaw sensor. Statistics illustrate thatthe sensor and the controller are the most fault-prone components in thewind turbine. Thus, how to control a faulted wind turbine by usingparameters from a normal wind turbine can be considered in sensor faultand controller fault respects.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the controlling the firstwind turbine based on parameters from the second wind turbine includes:in response to a fault having occurred in a sensor of the first windturbine, using measured values from a sensor of the second wind turbineas measured values of the sensor of the first wind turbine, forcontrolling the first wind turbine.

Hereinafter, details of how to control a faulted wind turbine areillustrated by taking an aerovane and a yaw sensor as specific examplesof sensors. The aerovane can be used for measuring current wind forceand direction of the location of a wind turbine; a controller of a windturbine can control the wind turbine to be oriented towards thedirection where the wind blows, based on current wind force magnitudeand whether current wind direction coincides with yaw angle of thecurrent wind turbine, so as to make the most effective use of wind powerresources. When an aerovane of a first wind turbine (e.g., a faultedwind turbine) has faults or crashes, actual measured values of windforce and wind direction at the first wind turbine cannot be obtained;at this point, wind force and wind direction at a second wind turbinethat are measured by an aerovane of the second wind turbine (e.g., anormal wind turbine) in a group to which the first wind turbine belongscan be obtained. By using measured values (e.g., wind force and winddirection) from a sensor of the second wind turbine as measured valuesof a sensor of the first wind turbine, a basis is thus provided forcontrolling the first wind turbine.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a yaw sensor can measure yawangle (e.g., represented by the wind turbine's head orientation) of awind turbine. When a yaw sensor of the first wind turbine has faults orcrashes, yaw angle of the wind turbine cannot be obtained internallyfrom the first wind turbine; at this point, yaw angle of the second windturbine that is measured by a yaw sensor of the second wind turbine in agroup to which the first wind turbine belongs can be obtained and isused as yaw angle of the first wind turbine on which the control of thefirst wind turbine is based.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the using measured valuesfrom a sensor of the second wind turbine as measured values of thesensor of the first wind turbine for controlling the first wind turbineincludes: obtaining wind information and yaw angle of the first windturbine from the measured values from the sensor of the second windturbine; and adjusting the first wind turbine's head orientation and/orblade angle based on the yaw angle and the wind information.

Hereinafter, detailed description is presented to how to adjust thefirst wind turbine's head orientation and/or blade angle based on theyaw angle and the wind information. With reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B,these figures schematically illustrate schematic views 500A and 500B ofthe process for controlling the orientation of a wind turbine headaccording to embodiments of the present invention, respectively. Asillustrated in FIG. 5A, the orientation (coinciding with the yaw angle)of a wind turbine head 510A is as illustrated by an arrow 520A, and thewind direction is as illustrated by an arrow 530A. At this point, tocause the head orientation to coincide with wind direction 530A, thehead can rotate clockwise by an offset θ, wherein θ can be calculatedbased on a difference between current head orientation 520A and winddirection 530A. Note head orientation 520A and wind direction 530A canbe represented using the same or different coordinate systems, and thoseskilled in the art can solve a value of the offset θ based on thecoordinate transformation principle, which is not detailed here. LikeFIG. 5A, FIG. 5B illustrates the circumstance where the wind directionis as illustrated by an arrow 530B, at which point the head shouldrotate counterclockwise by the offset θ.

In one embodiment, the dividing a plurality of wind turbines into atleast one group based on the similarity in status information of theplurality of wind turbines includes: collecting status information ofthe plurality of wind turbines; building a similarity matrix based onthe status information; dividing the plurality of wind turbines into atleast one group by solving eigenvalues of the matrix.

How to divide a plurality of wind turbines into at least one group basedon the similarity in status information of the plurality of windturbines will be described below by way of example. Suppose a wind farmincludes only three wind turbines, namely A, B and C. Specifically, inthis example consideration is given to each wind turbine's locationinformation, wind speed information, wind direction information and yawinformation, wherein for a specific wind turbine,

location information can be presented as (x,y);

historical wind speed information can be represented as (v1, v2, . . . ,vn);

historical wind direction information can be represented as (d1, d2, . .. , dn); and

historical yaw information can be represented as (y1, y2, . . . , yn).

While calculating the similarity, the similarity in the above fourrespects are respectively calculated with the following equations.

1. Location Similarity:

Sp(A,B)=1−√{square root over (avg(PA−PB)²)}/maxDistance  Equation(1)

Wherein “maxDistance” is the maximum distance between respective windturbines.

2. Wind Speed Similarity:

Sv(A,B)=1−√{square root over (avg(VA−VB)²)}/maxSpeed  Equation (2)

Wherein “maxSpeed” is the maximum wind speed in the wind farm.

3. Wind Direction Similarity:

Sd(A,B)=1−√{square root over (avg(DA−DB)²)}/360  Equation (3)

4. Yaw Similarity:

Based on the method that has been illustrated above with reference toFIGS. 5A and 5B, the following can be calculated: 1) a future yaw valueTA′ of a wind turbine A (simulating the aerovane fault situation of windturbine A), based on given historical yaw TA of wind turbine A andhistorical wind direction of a wind turbine B; and 2) a future yaw valueTA″ of wind turbine A (simulating the yaw sensor fault situation of windturbine A), based on given historical yaw TA of wind turbine B andhistorical wind direction of wind turbine A, wherein

St(A,B)=S(TA,TA′,TA″), and St(B,A)=S(TB,TB′,TB″).  Equation (4)

By setting weights with respect to the above four status factors, thesimilarity between any two wind turbines A and B can be obtained:

S(A,B)=αSp(A,B)+βSv(A,B)+γSd(A,B)+φSt(A,B), wherein α+β+γ+φ=1 andα,β,γ,φ>1.  Equation(5)

In addition, as a specific wind turbine is completely similar to itself,S(A,A)=S(B,B)=S(C,C)=1. By Equations (1)-(5), a similarity matrixdescribing the similarity in three wind turbines A, B and C in the windfarm can be obtained:

$W = \begin{bmatrix}{W\left( {A,A} \right)} & {S\left( {A,B} \right)} & {S\left( {A,C} \right)} \\{S\left( {B,A} \right)} & {S\left( {B,B} \right)} & {S\left( {B,C} \right)} \\{S\left( {C,A} \right)} & {S\left( {C,B} \right)} & {S\left( {C,C} \right)}\end{bmatrix}$

Suppose a similarity matrix is

${W = \begin{bmatrix}1 & 0.6 & 0.7 \\0.5 & 1 & 0.7 \\0.7 & 0.8 & 1\end{bmatrix}},$

and a diagonal matrix is

${D = \begin{bmatrix}2.3 & 0 & 0 \\0 & 2.2 & 0 \\0 & 0 & 2.5\end{bmatrix}},{then}$ ${{D - W} = \begin{bmatrix}1.3 & {- 0.6} & {- 0.7} \\{- 0.5} & 1.2 & {- 07} \\{- 0.7} & {- 0.8} & 1.5\end{bmatrix}},$

-   -   at which point eigenvalues of D-W are (0, 1.8, 2.2), and        eigenvectors corresponding to second minimum eigenvalues are        (−45.5, 29, 8).

According to symbols of the eigenvectors, A, B and C can be divided intotwo groups: the first group={A} (corresponding to values <0); and thesecond group={B, C} (corresponding to values >0).

In the above-described embodiment, the diagonal matrix D can be builtbased on the sum of elements in rows in the matrix W. For example, wherethe matrix W involves an n number of wind turbines, the diagonal matrixcan be calculated based on the equation below.

$\begin{matrix}{D = \begin{bmatrix}d_{0,0} & \; & \; & \; & \mspace{11mu} \\\; & \ldots & \; & \; & \; \\\; & \; & d_{i,j} & \; & \; \\\; & \; & \; & \ldots & \; \\\mspace{11mu} & \; & \; & \; & d_{n,n}\end{bmatrix}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} (6)}\end{matrix}$

Where for 0≤i and j≤n,

d _(i,j)=Σ_(j=0) ^(n) s _(i,j), and s _(i,j)

is the value of an element at (i, j) in the matrix W.

Nevertheless illustrated above is the situation where eigenvectors aresolved for the matrix W-D and further the wind turbines are grouped,those skilled in the art can use other specific grouping equations orapproaches based on the similarity principles.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the searching a group towhich the first wind turbine belongs for a second wind turbine matchingstatus information of the first wind turbine includes: looking up a windturbine having the highest similarity with the first wind turbine in asimilarity matrix; and identifying the wind turbine as the second windturbine.

Specifically, a wind turbine having the highest similarity with thefaulted wind turbine can be looked up in the above-described similaritymatrix W and taken as the second wind turbine. For example, when windturbine A has faults, the lookup can be implemented based on values ofelements S (A, B) and S (A, C) in the matrix W.

Alternatively, for simplification purposes, a wind turbine that isclosest to wind direction at the faulted wind turbine can be used as thesecond wind turbine, or a wind turbine that is closest to thegeographical location of the faulted wind turbine can be used as thesecond wind turbine. Alternatively, a typical wind turbine in a groupthat is most representative of wind turbine status in the group can beused as a representative such that parameters from the typical windturbine are used directly when any wind turbine in the group has faultsor crashes; when the typical wind turbine has faults or crashes,however, other wind turbine can be selected based on the methoddescribed above.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the controlling the firstwind turbine based on parameters from the second wind turbine furtherincludes: in response to a fault having occurred in a controller of thefirst wind turbine, adjusting the first wind turbine's head orientationand/or blade angle by a controller of the second wind turbine.

As detailed description has been presented regarding how to control afaulted wind turbine by using parameters from a normal wind turbine whenthe wind turbine's sensor has faults or crashes, description ispresented below to how to deal when a controller of a wind turbine hasfaults or crashes. Note when a controller of a wind turbine has faultsor crashes, the controller cannot calculate how to adjust the faultedwind turbine's head orientation and/or blade angle based on the windturbine's yaw angle, wind direction and wind speed as described above.At this point, a controller of a normal wind turbine can be used toperform the above operations.

For example, current yaw angle of the faulted wind turbine and winddirection and wind speed at the faulted wind turbine can be sent fromthe faulted wind turbine to the normal wind turbine, and next thecontroller of the normal wind turbine can obtain correct controlparameters based on the received data. At this point, the faulted windturbine's head orientation and/or blade angle can be adjusted bydirectly controlling a drive device of the first wind turbine based onthe above control parameters by the normal wind turbine. Those skilledin the art can understand the above operations can be performed usingany normal wind turbine in the wind farm or any other computing devicethat is capable of controlling a wind turbine to operate.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the adjusting the first windturbine's head orientation and/or blade angle by a controller of thesecond wind turbine includes: calculating offsets of the first windturbine's head orientation and/or blade angle by the controller of thesecond wind turbine based on the measured values of the sensor of thefirst wind turbine; and changing the first wind turbine's headorientation and/or blade angle based on the offsets. Specifically, firstof all the controller of the normal wind turbine obtains offsets ofvarious components of the faulted wind turbine, and then these offsetsare directly applied to the drive device of the faulted wind turbine,thereby changing the faulted wind turbine's head orientation and/orblade angle.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the dividing a plurality ofwind turbines into at least one group based on a similarity in statusinformation of the plurality of wind turbines is implemented in responseto any one of the following conditions: a timeout of a predeterminedtime interval arrives; the similarity in status information of windturbines in an existing group no longer meets a predetermined threshold;and no other wind turbine exists in the group to which the first windturbine belongs.

Specifically, FIG. 6 schematically illustrates a flowchart 600 of amethod for dividing wind turbines into groups according to oneembodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 6, thegrouping can be implemented periodically. For example, in step S602, inresponse to no other wind turbine existing in the group to which thefirst wind turbine belongs, the workflow proceeds to grouping step S608.Note in the embodiments of the present invention, since a normal windturbine that is similar to the status of the faulted wind turbine needsto be sought and the faulted wind turbine is controlled based onparameters from the normal wind turbine, when no other wind turbineexists in the group to which the faulted wind turbine belongs, itindicates that no normal qualified wind turbine is found, and thusgrouping step S608 should be executed again for finding a matching windturbine. If still no matching wind turbine is found after grouping stepS608 is executed once again, then one can have the faulted wind turbineshut down and wait to be maintained by technicians.

In step S604, in response to the similarity in status information ofwind turbines in one of the at least one group no longer meeting apredetermined threshold, the workflow proceeds to grouping step S608.When the similarity in status information of one or more wind turbinesin any group no longer meets the predetermined threshold, it can beconsidered status information of various wind turbines in this group areno longer similar to each other, at which point these wind turbinescannot share control parameters any more and thus grouping step S608should be executed again.

In step S606, in response to timeout of predetermined time intervals(e.g., implemented by setting a timer), the workflow proceeds togrouping step S608. Since meteorological factors at a wind turbinechange slowly and topographic factors change more slowly, intervals ofthe timer can be set to an order of magnitude like 1 hour. Further,those skilled in the art can define by themselves time intervals of thetimer according to specific situation of the wind farm.

Although FIG. 6 illustrates various judgment steps in the order of S602,S604 and S608, those skilled in the art can understand these judgmentsteps can be executed in parallel/series or in other order.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the status informationincludes at least one of location information, wind speed information,wind direction information and yaw information. Those skilled in the artcan understand the status information can include one or more of theserespects; based on the method for defining similarity as illustratedwith reference to Equations (1)-(5), those skilled in the art canincrease or decrease the kind and amount of the status information orcombine them.

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram 700 of an apparatus forcontrolling a wind turbine according to one embodiment of the presentinvention. Specifically, the apparatus for controlling a wind turbineillustrated in FIG. 7 includes: a dividing module 710 configured todivide a plurality of wind turbines into at least one group based on asimilarity in status information of the plurality of wind turbines; asearch module 720 configured to, in response to having detected a faultin a first wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines, search agroup to which the first wind turbine belongs for a second wind turbinematching status information of the first wind turbine; and a controlmodule 730 configured to control the first wind turbine based onparameters from the second wind turbine.

In one embodiment of the present invention, control module 730 includes:a first control module configured to, in response to a fault havingoccurred in a sensor of the first wind turbine, use measured values froma sensor of the second wind turbine as measured values of the sensor ofthe first wind turbine, for controlling the first wind turbine.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the first control moduleincludes: an obtaining module configured to obtain wind information andyaw angle of the first wind turbine from the measured values from thesensor of the second wind turbine; and an adjusting module configured toadjust the first wind turbine's head orientation and/or blade anglebased on the yaw angle and the wind information.

In one embodiment, dividing module 710 includes: a collecting moduleconfigured to collect status information of the plurality of windturbines; a building module configured to build a similarity matrixbased on the status information; and a grouping module configured todivide the plurality of wind turbines into at least one group by solvingeigenvalues of the matrix.

In one embodiment of the present invention, search module 720 includes:a lookup module configured to look up a wind turbine having the highestsimilarity with the first wind turbine in a similarity matrix; and anidentifying module configured to identify the wind turbine as the secondwind turbine.

In one embodiment of the present invention, control module 730 furtherincludes: a second control module configured to, in response to a faulthaving occurred in a controller of the first wind turbine, adjust thefirst wind turbine's head orientation and/or blade angle by a controllerof the second wind turbine.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the second control moduleincludes: a calculation module configured to calculate offsets of thefirst wind turbine's head orientation and/or blade angle by thecontroller of the second wind turbine based on the measured values ofthe sensor of the first wind turbine; and a change module configured tochange the first wind turbine's head orientation and/or blade anglebased on the offsets.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the sensor includes at leastone of aerovane and a yaw sensor.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the apparatus forcontrolling a wind turbine further includes: an invoking module (notillustrated) configured to invoke the dividing module in response to anyone of the following conditions: a timeout of a predetermined timeinterval arrives; the similarity in status information of wind turbinesin an existing group no longer meets a predetermined threshold; and noother wind turbine exists in the group to which the first wind turbinebelongs.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the status informationincludes at least one of location information, wind speed information,wind direction information and yaw information.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams can represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which includes one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock can occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks illustrated in succession can, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks can sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

1. An apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a memory storinginstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatusto perform a method comprising: receiving first status informationregarding each of a plurality of wind turbines at a first time, thefirst status information for each of the plurality of wind turbinesincluding status components, the status components including at leastwind information and yaw information; for each wind turbine of theplurality of wind turbines, determining a first difference between eachstatus component of the first status information of that particular windturbine and each status component of the first status information ofevery other wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines; for eachwind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines, comparing the firstdifferences between at least the wind information and the yawinformation of that particular wind turbine and at least the windinformation and the yaw information of every other wind turbine of theplurality of wind turbines to at least one status component threshold;dividing the plurality of wind turbines into two or more groups based onthe first differences and the first comparisons with the at least onestatus component threshold; in response to one of a plurality of triggerconditions: receiving second status information regarding each of theplurality of wind turbines at a second time, the second statusinformation for each of the plurality of wind turbines including statuscomponents for each wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines; foreach wind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines, determining asecond difference between each status component of the second statusinformation of that particular wind turbine and each status component ofthe second status information of every other wind turbine of theplurality of wind turbines; for each wind turbine of the plurality ofwind turbines, comparing the second differences between at least thewind information and the yaw information of that particular wind turbineand at least the wind information and the yaw information of every otherwind turbine of the plurality of wind turbines to at least one statuscomponent threshold; and re-dividing the plurality of wind turbines intotwo or more groups based on the second differences and the secondcomparison with the at least one status component threshold; in responseto having detected a fault in a first wind turbine of the plurality ofwind turbines, identifying a group of the two or more groups to whichthe first wind turbine belongs and identifying a second wind turbinewithin the group of the two or more groups; and controlling operation ofthe first wind turbine based on at least one parameter from the secondwind turbine.